The Radio Dept. And The Girl With The Rifle

The Swedish pop group The Radio Dept.,released their fifth album “Running Out Of Love” last year. Even though it was released a year ago, the glorious effect of the albums has not left the bodies of their fans’.

Here is our interview with them. Have fun!

1-)First of all, how do you define your music genre? We know it’s dream pop or shoegaze. But beyond the borders, you added sax in Clinging to a Scheme and you made great electronic-dance songs with Running out of Love. Can we say that you’re experimenting new tastes?

– We like to experiment, yes! And we like to try new things. But we’re just a pop group, no more no less. That’s the only label we’re comfortable with except socialist, feminist and anti racist. You can put any of those terms before Pop Group if you like.

2-) It’s a well-known fact that you go political pretty much. “Sloboda Narodu” is the latest example. And of course the album artwork- girl with the rifle. “The Systems are Falling” by Moby and the Pacific Choir is an electronic album criticizing international political system, popular culture and unveganism. What’s your message with the album?

– It was written in, and speaks to, a Swedish context where nationalism, fascism and racism has been on the rise since the late 00s. Almost all of the songs are about that in one way or another. So it’s been called a protest record in Sweden and I guess it is. But musically it’s far from the kind of protest music that came out of the 60s and 70s.

3-) Girl with the rifle. I mean in patriarchal world, these kind of images of women are not acceptable. Is it, maybe, a support for feminism or more broadly equality?

– Yes, it’s definitely a feminist image. All decent, civilized and intelligent people are feminists of course.

4-) You said to ‘clrvynt” that “You had to one more record for your label for the last time, so you can make songs like Introspective by Pet Shop Boys. But it didn’t happen, you didn’t stick to that concept.” But with “we got game” and “thieves of state” we hear sounds like Pet Shop Boy or Erasure. What was the deal-breaker?

– It’s not as clubby as it was meant to be from the start but there are lots of those ideas still on the record. It’s just that we didn’t stick to that original idea of making a house album fundamentally. I kind of wish we had, but I’m still happy with the album. I don’t know about Erasure though, we mainly listened to early house and techno music when we decided what kind of album we were gonna make. Pet Shop Boys I’ve loved since I was i kid so that’s an influence we’re happy to wear on our sleeves.

5-)You’ve said before that you wanted to start your own label? How about that? Do you have anything in mind?

– Yes it’s gonna happen. It’s going to be called ”Just So!”and we’ll hopefully put something out later this year. But first we’re gonna put one last single from Running Out of Love. The closing song Teach Me to Forget will be our last EP on Labrador. It will contain a couple of new songs and some remixes, one of them from our dear friends in the Istanbul band “Kim Ki O”.

– Haha! That’s how we felt we were treated by our record label when we took them to court a couple of years ago. We’re not against sodomy in any way, people can do whatever they want, but when it’s unwanted sodomy it’s very bad of course. So that became the metaphor for what we felt was a gross mistreatment. Our contracts with the label were very, very bad. They owned everything we created, every song we wrote, for all of our lives plus 70 years without having to give anything back. It was very bad, but we’ve changed those deals now so our relationship is much better today.

7-) Since both of you live in the different cities, are you planning to make a solo album?

– Yes, I’m working on it actually. But I’m not rushing it. I don’t even have a deadline. And I don’t know what to name the project. Johan Duncanson sounds extremely boring.

😎What is waiting for us next? What are you waiting to do next?

– Apart from all the touring and the final EP on Labrador and starting a new label and working on a solo album I don’t know really… We’re open for ideas.